A car bomb driven by two suspected suicide attackers exploded outside a police station in central Turkey, killing two policemen and wounding 16 people, the interior minister said. The two attackers were also killed.

The two suspects sped through a paramilitary check point and detonated the powerful bomb outside the police station in the town of Pinarbasi, in the province of Kayseri, said Idris Naim Sahin, the interior minister.

Two police officers were killed and 16 people including children of police officers staying in nearby police lodgings were wounded, Sahin said.

The vehicle was first spotted at the paramilitary check point in the
neighboring province of Kahramanmaras, some 90 kilometers (56 miles) away, when it ignored calls to stop and hit a sergeant as they escaped, the state-run Anadolu Agency said.

Sahin hinted that Kurdish rebels, fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey, might have been behind the attack.

"The crazy attacks of the terrorist organization are continuing," he
said, in an apparent reference to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.

Private NTV television and the Dogan news agency said a policeman standing guard outside the police station opened fire at the assailants,
triggering a clash with police guards outside the building. The bomb went off soon after the clashes.

Suspected Kurdish rebels have also kidnapped 10 villagers in a raid on the village of Bayirli near the southeastern town of Tunceli on Tuesday night, the state television said Friday. The motive of the kidnapping was unclear.

The PKK has carried out several bombings, including suicide attacks throughout Turkey in the past. The conflict has killed tens of thousands
of people since 1984.